It has now been confirmed that Uganda’s rift valley basins contain commercially exploitable reserves of oil and gas. Efforts to explore this extractive and non-renewable resource have been steeped up in the last decade.

Of Uganda’s five sedimentary basins in Uganda (The Albertine Graben, Hoima Basin, Lake Kyoga Basin, Lake Wamala Basin, Kadam-Moroto Basin), the Albertine Graben has so far been discovered as the most prospective area for petroleum in Uganda. It forms the northern most part of the western arm of the East African Rift Valley System, 500 km long, averaging 45 km wide and 23,000 sq Km. It runs along Uganda’s western border with the Democratic Republic of Congo and is a distance of 1,200 Km from the nearest coast.

The earliest reference to oil in Uganda was in reference to an oil seepage near Kibiro on the shores of Lake Albert which was known to the indigenous people who lived in the area.

The first contribution to the evaluation of the country’s hydrocarbon potential was by E. J Wayland, a Government geologist, who documented numerous hydrocarbon occurrences in the Albertine Graben in the 1920’s.

Oil exploration continued intermittently through the 1930’s but came to a halt during the Second World War. Serious exploration work commenced again in early 1980’s with the acquisition of aeromagnetic data across the entire Graben and the subsequent follow up ground geophysical and geological work in the late 1980’s and 1990’s. Seismic data was first acquired in the Graben during 1998 and several surveys have been undertaken to date. Over one hundred wells have been drilled from 2002 to date and more are planned.

The Early Efforts (Pre-1980)

1925

• Petroleum Potential of Uganda documented by a Government Geologist E.J. Wayland, in the publication “Petroleum in Uganda”, 1925. This included reporting of the existence of Oil seepages in Uganda.

1936 -1956:

• The first shallow stratigraphic wells were drilled by the African – European Investment Company.

• The first deep well Waki B-1 well was drilled in 1938 in Butiaba, Buliisa.

• Drilling of Turaco-1, 2 and 3 wells by HERITAGE and ENERGY AFRICA and reaching Total Depth (TD) of 2,487m, 2963m and 2980m respectively; One of the horizons (zones) was tested and confirmed presence of natural gas but heavily contaminated by Carbon-dioxide

History of Petroleum Exploration in Uganda

It has now been confirmed that Uganda’s rift valley basins contain commercially exploitable reserves of oil and gas. Efforts to explore this extractive and non-renewable resource have been steeped up in the last decade.

Of Uganda’s five sedimentary basins in Uganda (The Albertine Graben, Hoima Basin, Lake Kyoga Basin, Lake Wamala Basin, Kadam-Moroto Basin), the Albertine Graben has so far been discovered as the most prospective area for petroleum in Uganda. It forms the northern most part of the western arm of the East African Rift Valley System, 500 km long, averaging 45 km wide and 23,000 sq Km. It runs along Uganda’s western border with the Democratic Republic of Congo and is a distance of 1,200 Km from the nearest coast.

The earliest reference to oil in Uganda was in reference to an oil seepage near Kibiro on the shores of Lake Albert which was known to the indigenous people who lived in the area.

The first contribution to the evaluation of the country’s hydrocarbon potential was by E. J Wayland, a Government geologist, who documented numerous hydrocarbon occurrences in the Albertine Graben in the 1920’s.

Oil exploration continued intermittently through the 1930’s but came to a halt during the Second World War. Serious exploration work commenced again in early 1980’s with the acquisition of aeromagnetic data across the entire Graben and the subsequent follow up ground geophysical and geological work in the late 1980’s and 1990’s. Seismic data was first acquired in the Graben during 1998 and several surveys have been undertaken to date. Over one hundred wells have been drilled from 2002 to date and more are planned.

The Early Efforts (Pre-1980)

1925

• Petroleum Potential of Uganda documented by a Government Geologist E.J. Wayland, in the publication “Petroleum in Uganda”, 1925. This included reporting of the existence of Oil seepages in Uganda.

1936 -1956:

• The first shallow stratigraphic wells were drilled by the African – European Investment Company.

• The first deep well Waki B-1 well was drilled in 1938 in Butiaba, Buliisa.

• Drilling of Turaco-1, 2 and 3 wells by HERITAGE and ENERGY AFRICA and reaching Total Depth (TD) of 2,487m, 2963m and 2980m respectively; One of the horizons (zones) was tested and confirmed presence of natural gas but heavily contaminated by Carbon-dioxide